


Collective

by 9haharharley1



Category: The Lorax (2012), The Lorax - Dr. Seuss
Genre: Cute, Gen, collection of Lorax drabbles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 13:31:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5969008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/9haharharley1/pseuds/9haharharley1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles about the characters of the Lorax. No smut, just a collection of cute.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not About Audrey

**Author's Note:**

> Moved from FF.net. Not beta'd.

Ted wasn’t sure when it stopped being about Audrey.

 

He wasn’t sure if it was when the last Truffula seed fell into his hands. Or maybe it was when the Once-ler admitted to being the cause of nature’s destruction. Perhaps it was the second day he visited the old Once-ler, or the first day when the old man booted him away after telling his tale. It could have been when the Once-ler first spoke, or when his Grammy first mentioned him.

 

It might have been when Ted first laid eyes on the wasteland outside his cities walls.

 

Whatever the reason, getting a tree from the Once-ler had become the most important thing Ted could ever do. It had stopped being about Audrey. He needed that tree, needed the townspeople to know what they were missing. Sure it may have started as a way to impress the girl of his dreams, but now – now it was so much more.

 

The Once-ler had waited for years in his Lerkim for someone to care enough to venture outside Thneedville’s walls, or at least someone curious enough. Ted will admit that he had always been curious of what lay outside in the world. The sight of the decimated forest and the nasty odor permeating the air had been a massive shock to his system.

 

And someone actually lived in this wasteland?

 

Knowing that the Once-ler had been living there for years had been unbelievable, but he trusted his Grammy and so Ted had ventured out into the great beyond.

 

It was some time after that when it all stopped being about Audrey.

 

This belief was solidified when O’Hare tried to intimidate him from ever leaving Thneedville again. So of course Ted didn’t listen and went to visit the Once-ler anyway. He was determined to get that tree; it was so much bigger than him now, bigger than Audrey. And when the last Truffula seed fell into his hands, he knew – that because someone like him did care an awful lot, things would get better.

 

It had all stopped being about Audrey.

 

At least until she kissed him on the cheek…


	2. Thanks to Ted

Audrey had been hearing about trees for as long as she could remember. Her grandparents could still remember when the Truffula trees still stood tall, their sweet fragrance filling the air. She could recall the nostalgic look in their aged eyes when they mentioned the Truffula valley not too far from town, and how when her grandfather told her how he asked her grandma to marry him under their tufts.

 

It was all so romantic, and Audrey had never tired of hearing them talk.

 

For her tenth birthday, her grandmother, an amateur painter in her free time, had made a beautiful painting for Audrey. It was her most treasured possession. The quality and detail was extraordinary, the colors breathtaking. She had tried to recreate it on the wall behind her house only to come home one day with it gone. Her heart had been broken, but at least she still had the original.

 

Audrey had always been the odd one out. She had very few friends at school, most of whom she didn’t talk to outside of class. She was always known as ‘tree girl’ or ‘plant lady’ and all sorts of other mean names. If it wasn’t for Ted, Audrey would have no friends at all.

 

If it wasn’t for Ted, Audrey would have never seen a real tree.

 

And if it wasn’t for Ted, all those people who used to make fun of her wouldn’t be coming to her door asking for advice on how to care for their plants.

 

Thanks to Ted, she got to meet the old Once-ler and the Lorax, who freely gave the two teenagers advice on nature.

 

Her dream of seeing a real, living tree had come true, and it was all thanks to Ted.


	3. Game

The tension between them was so great, so intense, that the animals around them cowered in the presence of such ferocity. Bright blue eyes glared hard into forest green ones, lightening and fire practically visible between the two.

 

The Once-ler’s brow furrowed.

 

The Lorax’s mustache twitched.

 

All the surrounding animals waited with baited breath for a break in the tension. One Humming Fish actually feinted.

 

Finally, the Once-ler broke, not being able to take it anymore. “Do you have _any_ … threes?”

 

A collective intake of breath could be heard from the critters. All eyes swerved to the Lorax, who continued to stare hard at the human. His impressive mustache twitched once more.

 

Then…

 

“Go fish,” he said with a mean smirk.

 

“Aw, man!” exclaimed the Once-ler. “Are you serious right now? I thought for sure I had something this time!” With a pout he reached into the pile of cards set in the middle of the rock they were playing on. He snatched one up, pouting only more when the Lorax started snickering.

 

“Did I not tell ya, beanpole?” the guardian of the forest asked? “I’m an excellent card player. You’re not likely to beat me.”

 

“I can see that…” muttered the Once-ler, glancing from his pathetic pile of doubled cards to the Lorax’s more impressive one. He sighed exasperatedly. “I fold.” He placed his hand in a neat pile on the rock. The Lorax looked up from under bushy eyebrows questioningly. The Once-ler shrugged, stood and stretched. “What? I’m just going to lose anyway.” He sighed when his back popped.

 

The Lorax stood as well, dusting his hands off. “Well, at least you can accept defeat like a champ.”

 

Once-ler chuckled, starting the walk back to his little cottage. “Come on. I’ll make everybody pancakes.”

 

There was a collective cheer from the animals and the Lorax before they all raced after the human.


	4. Alone

It hurt.

 

It hurt so much.

 

Standing there watching his forest friends walk solemnly away from the once beautiful Truffula valley tore something in the Once-ler. It tore deeper than anything he had ever felt before. Even the sight of his family driving off, abandoning him to the wasteland he had created didn’t hurt this much.

 

Those animals had been the best and closest friends he had ever had. And Melvin! His oldest and truest friend had abandoned him as well. Melvin had been around since the Once-ler was a child. He had listened to the Once-ler’s boyhood dreams, put up with the human when he was being especially annoying; even let the boy cry on him in times of sadness. But Melvin wouldn’t stick around for this, the Once-ler knew. While the mule was willing to stick around while the Once-ler embarrassed himself trying to sell his Thneed, he wouldn’t stay to comfort the human for what he’d done. This was the Once-ler’s fault. Nothing would change that.

 

But while the sight of Melvin walking away tore his heart open, it was the Lorax that crushed it completely.

 

The sight of those sad, forest green eyes staring at him with such pity, such pain and sadness, grieving for the deaths of all the voices he spoke for and all the souls he could still hope to save. But he wouldn’t save the Once-ler. The Once-ler had to save himself and make things right. Staring into the sad eyes of the Lorax ripped what was left of the business mogul’s heart in shreds and threw the pieces on the ground, grinding them into the dirt.

 

And then he was gone.

 

Just like that, the Guardian of the Forest lifted himself by his seat and floated up. Up, up, up he went, and as he disappeared through a small smog parting in the sky, the blue-eyes human briefly thought, _‘Wow, he really does have powers.’_

 

Then there was silence.

 

The Once-ler stood there, staring up at the dark sky, hoping, wishing it was all a joke.

 

But the stone with the ‘Unless’ on it was proof.

 

He was all alone.


	5. Portrait

Her picture was the most treasured object in the whole house. He took care of it every day; polished it until the frame shined and sparkled like her smile, wiped down the glass so that her face and eyes were as clear as could be, and, if need be, replaced the wire that held it atop the nail on the wall.

 

It was the Once-ler’s favorite picture of her. He had taken it some odd years ago when they were both younger. She had been sitting next to the river, two Barb-a-loots in front of her while she fed them marshmallows. She had been so serene, so happy. She had been happy most of the time back then. Even when the Once-ler would come back from town with nothing but his Thneed and angry tears in his eyes, she was still enough to bring out the light and make them both happy once more.

 

The old Once-ler smiled sadly down at the small frame in his lap, rag in hand as he polished the metal. Even years later, long after she had broken his heart, he was still able to garner some semblance of happiness from her bright smile and sparkling eyes. Oh, it hurt to look at her picture. It hurt every time. Especially thinking about how she would have settled down with someone and had kids. She probably had at least one grandchild by now. It hurt to think that they hadn’t had that chance. By then it was too late. The business had ruined him, long before the Lorax was lifted, and he just hadn’t realized it.

 

And now here he sat, old and decrepit with a photo of an old girlfriend in his lap wishing for things to be different. If he hadn’t decided to keep biggering and biggering, maybe Norma would have never left.

 

Maybe, just maybe…

 

But now it was far too late.

 

With a quiet sniffle, the Once-ler finished his ritualistic cleaning of Norma’s portrait before hanging it back up. He took a step back and stared long and hard at it, like he did every day. And, like he did every day, he walked away and didn’t look at it until the next morning.


End file.
